Sorry for the obnoxious giddiness in the title, but, yeah, I was hooked up with tickets to Bears-Packers. Even though its going to be like 0 degrees, I am so excited. This is the biggest game to hit Chicago since 1985, when they had that dominant team that the fans can never shut up about. Sure, Packers-Bears hasn't always been a great rivalry playing-wise, but there is true animosity between fans (well, as much animosity as Wisconsinites can muster), a win by either team in the regular season is enough to save a sub .500 season, and, when hired, Lovie Smith said his first priority as coach was to beat the Packers. Before he said anything about the Super Bowl. So yeah, it's kinda a big deal. So, bundle up (like I will be) and lets get down to business here. Picks. In addition to the game I'm going to, there's another great game, with Pittsburgh facing off against the Jets (who I continue to loathe). Last week I went 2 and 2- completely botched the Seahawks pick, and never saw the Jets coming- but did nail the Packers and Steelers. That brings me to 5-3 this postseason. Decent.
Green Bay (-3.5) at Chicago
Hoo boy, its gonna be a good one. As stated before, there is just a little bit of animosity between these two teams, and now they play for a trip to the Super Bowl. I've been railing against the Bears all season, questioning their strength of schedule (sometimes they'd play good teams who had injured key players) and general talent. Last week, they took down the Seahawks. Well, great. The Seahawks played one good game and then returned to their real selves- a decent to bad football team. The Bears have gotten by against weaker opponents, especially as of late (only exceptions: wins against Jets and Eagles. But even those weren't "showcase" games. The Bears let the other team beat themselves). I'll continue to rail against them here. The Packers are en fuego. Aaron Rodgers seems unstoppable at this point, and the offense has discovered a running game. The defense is just as ferocious as the Bears and has a knack for big plays. The Bears offense, meanwhile, is always a little bit of a question mark. They have established a solid running game with Matt Forte, but taking away that option might force the game onto Cutler's shoulders. And I don't trust him one bit. He's thrown less interceptions, but not for lack of trying. He has to be due. With all that mind, I'll take the Packers to win, but the Bears to cover. The defense can keep them in the game, but I think Rodgers is just too much right now. And yes, I might curse the whole Packers franchise by showing up to the game and rooting for them. So be wary of this pick.
NY Jets at Pittsburgh (-3.5)
Ahh, how I loathe the Jets. Even if they backed up their talk with a convincing victory over the seemingly invincible Patriots, their celebrations as the game ended and their bravado really just rubbed me the wrong way. I find them to be assholes. And all their fans too. So I really, really cannot see myself enjoying the Super Bowl if they are in it (or, gasp, even worse IF THEY WIN IT WE WILL NEVER HEAR THE END). Thank goodness then that they now travel to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stumbled out of the gates against the Ravens but capitalized on the Raven's mistakes in the second half, and made some key plays down the stretch to take the game. Ben Roethlisberger has shown that despite his off the field problems, you have to respect him as a true big game QB. Like, really clutch. The offense, which has deep threats (unlike the Patriots) should be able to get enough points to win. Here's the part that really counts though; the Steelers have a historically good run defense. Mark Sanchez usually starts the game by relying on his running game and making easy throws to boost his confidence. But he can't do that here. The Steelers should be able to neutralize the Jets running game and force Mark Sanchez to take over. He's been good in spots, but I don't trust him to really make plays and PUT THE TEAM ON HIS BACK. So, Steelers win and cover, and we don't have the horrible combination of the Jets trash talk, along with the horrible NY media.
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